Taking antibiotics is not spent, is it dangerous?

You may have experienced this. The doctor prescribes an antibiotic to treat your illness, with the message, "It must be finished!" However, after only 1-2 days of taking antibiotics, you will immediately feel healthy. In fact, the antibiotics that have been prescribed by your doctor have not run out.

You may have heard the suggestion that you should take antibiotics until they run out. Even if you are well again, you should continue to take any remaining antibiotics until they run out. In fact, what will happen if you don't finish the antibiotics?

What is the difference between antibiotics and other drugs?

Antibiotics serve to treat diseases caused by bacterial infections. The way antibiotics work is by killing or inhibiting the growth process of small, harmful organisms in the body, such as parasites, fungi, and bacteria.

Diseases caused by bacteria such as tuberculosis (TB), syphilis, sinusitis, and sore throat can usually be combated with antibiotics. However, antibiotics will be less effective in treating diseases caused by viral infections such as influenza, herpes, or hepatitis.

Therefore, if you have a certain disease, it is important to find out whether the cause is a bacterial infection or a viral infection. Because, you should only take antibiotics if your disease is caused by bacteria.

Only a doctor can determine this. That is why you can only get antibiotic drugs based on a doctor's prescription.

If it is cured, do you still have to finish the antibiotics?

The use of the right antibiotics will effectively stop the infection and speed up healing. So, you should really pay attention to the doctor's message when you are given antibiotics. Depending on the symptoms and signs that appear, antibiotics are usually prescribed for 5-14 days of use.

If you stop taking antibiotics before the time set by your doctor, the World Health Organization (WHO) discloses that you are at risk of developing antibiotic resistance.

This can happen because even though the symptoms of the disease you are experiencing have reduced or disappeared, it is possible that the bacteria that have lodged in the body have not completely died. Bacteria that are still left in the body and will undergo mutations.

This mutation will make the bacteria resistant to certain antibiotics (this could be the antibiotic you took last time, or a similar antibiotic). So when you are attacked by a bacterial infection again at a later date, the antibiotic drugs prescribed by your doctor may no longer work to treat your disease.

Antibiotic resistance, the harmful effects of unspent antibiotics

As explained above, antibiotic resistance can occur if your antibiotic drugs are not taken until they run out according to doctor's orders. What is antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is a condition when the bacteria that invade your body become resistant to antibiotics. People who experience antibiotic resistance will find it difficult to cure from the bacterial infection that attacks them. This has the risk of causing death. The data reported by Republika notes that worldwide, there are an estimated 700 thousand deaths caused by bacterial resistance.

Why can antibiotic resistance be fatal?

Antibiotic resistance is not trivial. This is because, if you are already resistant to certain antibiotics, there are not many types of antibiotics available as substitutes to cure your disease. The latest antibiotic developed by experts last appeared in 2005. That means, the options for someone who has a bacterial infection are very limited.

However, several recent studies such as those published in the Australian Medical Journal state that this risk is not absolutely for everyone. According to the study, antibiotic resistance due to not spending antibiotic drugs does not occur in some people and certain diseases.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine whether you are among those who are at high risk of developing antibiotic resistance or not. So, to avoid this risk you should keep taking antibiotics until they run out, according to your doctor's instructions.

What if the doctor asks you to stop taking antibiotics even though they haven't finished?

You can only stop antibiotic treatment sooner if this is allowed or recommended by your doctor. Usually the doctor will tell you to stop taking prescribed antibiotics after you feel better for some illness, such as chest pain or urinary tract infection.

If the doctor does not provide information on whether you need to take antibiotics until they run out, you should first ask your doctor's opinion before you decide to stop taking the drug.

The doctor also may only prescribe antibiotics for three days. Even though it is relatively short, it could be that the doctor has considered the results of recent studies which reveal that certain diseases can be overcome with faster consumption of antibiotics.

So, always listen to your doctor's recommendations and always ask further questions if you are not sure.

Then, WHO also advised that if the disease can still be cured without antibiotics, you should avoid taking antibiotics. In addition, always obey your doctor's recommendations when taking antibiotics so you can avoid unwanted risks.